Armenian opposition holds many-thousand strong march

On March 16, on the eve of the sitting of the Committee on Monitoring of the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly, an action of protest was held in the capital of Armenia attended by more than ten thousand people.

During a short meeting held near the monument of artist Martiros Saryan representatives of the Armenian National Congress (ANC) informed the participants that the PACE Committee on Monitoring the sitting of which was planned on March 17, addressed the Armenian authorities with a proposal to submit a schedule of reforms on taking the country out of the political crisis which emerged after the February 19, 2008 presidential elections followed by March 1, 2008 events.

"Naturally, we have no illusions with regard to the authorities and we are sure that they may compile a list of hollow promises and half-measures. However, we have made our own schedule of clear measures on taking the country out of the political crisis and intend to hand it over to the Council of Europe," stated Levon Zurabyan, coordinator of the ANC central office, in his speech.

According to Zurabyan, among other things, the opposition demands include: immediate release of all political prisoners, introduction of the necessary amendments into the law regulating the holding of demonstrations, and holding of extraordinary parliamentary and presidential elections. Zurabyan said that the demands of the ANC were listed in the letter by opposition leader Ter-Petrosyan addressed to Jagland, chairman of the Council of Europe: "Levon Ter-Petrosyan presents the necessity for radical reforms for resolving the crisis which has been existing in the country for two years. We plan to hand the letter to the CE office during the today's march."

In his interview to the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent, Levon Zurabyan has stated: "The Council of Europe could have done much more than it has done. But we must note that some actions have been undertaken and the international pressure on the Armenian authorities on the part of the Council of Europe structures, among others, which was in place, has played a certain role. But we think that it is not enough."